


Seasons

by thepessimist



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Angst, Fluff, Librarian Enno, M/M, Paint Sex, Pro Volleyball Player Tanaka, lots of shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-19 20:55:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15518403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepessimist/pseuds/thepessimist
Summary: It turns out that Tanaka's butt really is Ennoshita's cosmic awakening from the universe.





	Seasons

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Ennotana week y'all! I've had this in my drafts for a year and a half now and the prompts fit perfectly for it so I couldn't not post.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ennoshita meets Tanaka's butt and its spring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Comes in a week late with starbucks* Did someone say ennotana week?

It was spring and everything in Ennoshita's life was old- same old apartment- same old creaky floorboards- same dirty light filtered through the same dusty curtains that woke him up at the same time every morning.

This morning wasn't any different.

Ennoshita watched the dust particles dance through the soft light, focusing on a certain one, then losing it the next second. He could hear the faded sounds of Tokyo. Only paper thin walls (he really questioned the structural integrity of this place) separated him from the city. On the other side of the walls, the grey monotone wallpapered walls, was life; the city itself was alive. And here in the apartment, on this side of those stupid walls, everything was dead; even Ennoshita.

Or at least it felt like that.

Well, maybe not everything was dead; he had a flair for the dramatic sometimes. That stupid mouse he has been chasing for months was definitely still alive, as it scratched rather insistently at his floorboards (that he has to maintain, thank you very much, not that the mouse cared). It broke his concentration and Ennoshita cursed more violently than he probably should have, since all his anger was directed at a small insignificant being who didn't know any better. In the same moment though, he decided that his frustration was within reason as that insignificant being was living off his crumbs that he paid for. The least the little bastard could do was leave his aging floor alone.

"Pay rent if you're gonna do that shit," Ennoshita muttered, shuffling out of bed to drag himself towards the bathroom. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the trail of a tiny tail poking out from behind his desk. "Good. Hide, you coward, and when I'm not around chew up my socks."

And he could check off 'arguing with his cohabiting mouse' off of his daily checklist. It was right after 'wake up and have an existential crisis' and right before 'stare into the mirror and have a quarter life crisis'. Everything on his list was done in a timely manner with a two minute passing period between activities (just in case the mouse was being even more of a jackass than usual). And that is why by 7:58 AM he was putting on his shoes, mostly ready for his 8:00 AM walk around the city.

Tomorrow the walk would be replaced by work as the break ended, so today Ennoshita decided he would be extra nice to himself and latch on five more minutes to his stroll around the city. Maybe those five more minutes would breathe life back into him, or more like maybe he could desperately rummage through the dregs of the city, hoping to scrape up someone else's discarded happiness and live off of it somehow.

Sometimes, Ennoshita wished there was something as stupid as fate. Something that would just pop up in front of him with big neon signs saying 'Hey! This is what your life is meant to be about! Click on me!' Instead, he went around searching in pointless dead ends, for something that wasn't even there.

His mini existential crisis by the door cost him two minutes off of his walk, but at this point Ennoshita was barely in the mood, deciding he better just get on with his life instead of wandering the streets like a lost soul. He quite literally shook himself out of his thoughts, locking up his door and-

that's when it hit him.

And no, it wasn't the cosmic force of fate, dropping the meaning of life into his lap. It was an actual physical object that hurtled its way into his back and was currently breathing rather heavily down his neck.

"Oh my god! I’m so sorry!" He heard a voice say way too loudly for it to be speaking directly into his ear. The voice then addressed another person. "Noya! I told you throwing the boxes up the stairs was a bad method."

"Hey! It was working fine at first," another chirpier voice joined in. "And besides, it was Bokuto's idea to begin with."

"Yeah, but you-" the body on top of Ennoshita tried to argue back, but he decided he had quite enough of this conversation. Both of the people seemed to forget that one of them was still sitting unnecessarily on top of Ennoshita's poor back and he had better places to be than underneath a stranger’s ass.

"Before you continue, could you please get off me?" Ennoshita used his steely calm voice that got students to cower in his wake. It must’ve worked on this guy too, as he scrambled off quickly muttering a jumble of apologies for Ennoshita to pick up.

Ennoshita straightened himself up and looked his back crusher straight in the eye for the first time- And holy hell maybe he doesn't have better places to be than under this guy's ass.

The offender was a young man, maybe early twenties, like himself, but that could just be wishful thinking. The way he was dressed and his shy smile made Ennoshita think he was a teenager. He ran a hand across his shaved head, giving Ennoshita a nice view of his well developed bicep (not that he was looking) before he held out his other one. Something about him was so familiar, as though he was a past memory of some sort.

"Sorry 'bout that," he said sheepishly, giving Ennoshita an even brighter smile. "My name’s Tanaka Ryuunosuke.”

And that's when the name and face clicked together. Ennoshita took the offered hand and blurted, "I know you."

"What, you do?!" Tanaka looked as surprised as Ennoshita felt embarrassed. "I don't think I've recognized you from anywhere, but I'm shit with names."

"No! Wait, let me start over," Ennoshita said, snatching his hand back and rubbing his now sweaty palms on his pants as he fumbled with his words. "I'm Ennoshita Chikara." He watched Tanaka nod along, acknowledging his introduction, subconsciously following his eyelashes flutter up and down. "And you..." Ennoshita hesitated for a moment, wondering just how creepy he came off as. But he was already in so he might as well go in all the way. "You play volleyball... right?"

Tanaka's eyes lit up, and he was almost literally buzzing with excitement. "You know me?" He whispered in shock, leaning over and getting way too close to Ennoshita. "You recognize me?" He grabbed onto Ennoshita's hands again and turned around to yell down the hallway, before Ennoshita could even begin to answer his question. "Noya! Come here, I've been spotted by my first fan! You have to take a picture of this!"

Ennoshita more heard than saw another person come running down the hallway practically screaming. He was too busy gazing down at where Tanaka's hands perfectly wrapped over his. He hadn't even really registered what Tanaka had said, instead feeling those calloused fingers rub against the back of his hand.

"No way!" came a voice from behind him. Ennoshita turned around and came face to face with the Japanese men's volleyball team's libero, Nishinoya Yuu. "How long've you been a fan of Ryuu's?" He asked, holding up a phone and taking a picture with an unnecessary amount of flash. Tanaka had posed with peace signs, but Ennoshita was still in shock from whatever the fuck was happening to him to do anything at all.

Wait a fan?

Both men were looking at him expectantly, wide eyes shining in anticipation for his answer. Ennoshita's mind went blank and all he could come up with was, "Aren't you on the bench?"

Nishinoya immediately let out a bark of laughter as Tanaka crumpled to the floor in defeat. Ennoshita's cheeks burned. He just came off as such an asshole. He always did when he was nervous. He stood there, awkwardly, as Tanaka laid whimpering on the floor as though Ennoshita had actually punched him in the face. Nishinoya, on the other hand, was having the time of his life, hunching over with laughter, tears streaming down his face.

Nishinoya lunged at Ennoshita, grabbing onto his shoulders and shaking him. "You're my goddamn hero," he wept, reaching down to grab Ennoshita's hands and squeeze them tight. "You are the best thing to ever happen!"

"Thank you?" Ennoshita wasn't sure how to respond.

Nishinoya just let out another shriek of laughter as Tanaka moaned from the floor, letting go of his grip on Ennoshita to instead plop down, belly first, onto his friend on the floor.

"How does it feel to be dead?" He asked casually balancing on top of Tanaka, resting on his chest like this was quite a normal occurrence.

"It hurt so bad," Tanaka groaned dramatically and then turned to look back up at Ennoshita. "At least I died in the hands of a beauty."

Ennoshita rolled his eyes. Was this guy serious? "You wish."

That earned him another giggle from Nishinoya, who patted Tanaka's head saying, "You tried, bud. It's ok. You can let go now. It'll just be like falling asleep."

Ennoshita pinched the bridge of his nose. These two really reminded him of his rather special students, the ones that required him to make them scrub the tables just to get them to shut up. Those students that gave him migraines. He could feel one coming up now. Maybe he could give them detention and call it a day. The horrible part of his brain conjured up terrible images of Tanaka in a plaid skirt asking Ennoshita to 'please punish me Sensei'. Like he said, horrible, terrible images, not at all doing weird things to his nether region, but before he could delve into those horrible, no good, fantasies, Tanaka and Nishinoya were dusting themselves off and straightening up like the adults that they were.

"Sorry 'bout all that," Tanka said sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his head. "Is it too late to call a do over?"

"Speak for yourself, Ryuu!" Nishinoya cut in before Ennoshita could respond. "I didn't even get to introduce myself."

"You're Nishinoya," Ennoshita said before they could start play fighting again. "You're the Japanese team’s new libero." He only hoped he didn't sound too creepy. Apparently he didn't, as Nishinoya's eyes lit up again.

"HA!" He laughed, pointing at Tanaka who was back to pouting. "He knows who I am, too!" He turned back to Ennoshita with a wide smile. "You can call me Noya! All my friends do!"

"Friends?" Ennoshita was sure he just met these people, but maybe he was mistaken.

"Yeah!" Noya responded enthusiastically, swinging an arm around Ennoshita. "Anyone who takes that loser," he shoved his thumb in Tanaka's general direction, "down a peg is a friend of mine!"

Said loser locked an arm around Noya's neck, rubbing his fist into the top of his head. "You are such a little shit sometimes," he growled as Noya whined, pretending to try to get away by latching on to Ennoshita, who could only stand around observing the strange behavior, wondering if this was how he was supposed to act at his age. Surely not. Tanaka and Noya eventually dissolved into a fit of laughter, before turning their attention back to Ennoshita. "So," Ryuu started again. "If you recognize us, you gotta be a fan of volleyball, right?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Ennoshita replied uncomfortably. Volleyball was one of the many bittersweet words in his life along with college, father, and spring. It was a 'once was' for him, but at the same time, it was something he could never let go of. He, of course, could not divulge this to two people he just met and instead casually continued, "I used to play in high school for a bit, but decided I was better as a spectator." (read: not good enough to play.)

"Cool!" Noya squealed, like he genuinely thought Ennoshita was cool and wasn't just being nice. "How'd you like to meet the rest of the team?"

Ennoshita gaped. There was no way he could. He didn't have time. He wasn't prepared. He needed to just turn around, tell Tanaka and Noya to have a nice day, and be on his merry way, never to cross paths with the overly affectionate duo again. Instead, he found himself nodding along. "Sure, why not? I wasn't doing anything."

The left side of his brain screamed, Excuse me?! We have an 8:00 AM walk to take that we are already 7 minutes late for because of these idiots; it's time to go. It was muffled pretty quickly by the sound of Tanaka's voice.

"You can take it as an apology for me assaulting you with my ass," he laughed, scratching the back of his head, looking at least a little embarrassed about their meeting.

You don't need to apologize for that, Ennoshita thought, but, of course again, did not say as he would have literally died of embarrassment. Instead, he politely giggled- chuckled- at Tanaka's cute attempt at a joke and asked, "When and where would we meet?"

"Now!" Tanaka responded with a bright smile. He had to get his teeth whitened because they looked fluorescent. "They're helpin' me move in."

"Wait." Ennoshita held up a hand for dramatic effect, an eyebrow raised for even more. "Move in?"

"Yeah." Tanaka pointed at the dented box that Ennoshita noted was lying at their feet. "I got the place right there." He then proceeded to nod at the door right next to Ennoshita's.

"Really?"

"Yup," Tanaka gave Ennoshita a once over, tilting his head in a manner that was not at all endearing. "Is that a problem?"

Ennoshita found himself not being able to find his own words. "No. No, no, of course not," he assured Tanaka with big sweeping hand motions so he understood how not a problem it was. Tanaka thankfully found him entertaining, as a wide grin cracked across his confused expression. "I live right next door, actually!"

He watched Tanaka light up even more (if that was possible) to the point that it was almost blinding. Ennoshita's hands twitched, wanting to protect his eyes from all the happiness the other man was exuding. Instead, he reacted like a normal person and gave a friendly smile back.

"Ya hear that Noya!" Tanaka turned to Noya, who was texting rapidly, tongue caught between his teeth in concentration. He gave a grunt in response. "Ennoshita's my neighbor!"

"Oh, awesome!" Noya finally looked up from his phone, eyes sparkling, but then frowns as his gaze locks back onto Tanaka. "We gotta go down. Daichi’s pissed we're taking so long, and Bokuto-san is about to throw a fit."

Ennoshita blushed at the mention of Daichi. He was sure they were talking about The Daichi, as in captain of the Japanese team Sawamura Daichi. He placed a small mental note in the back of his mind, in between 'remember to take out the trash' and 'record that one drama he's been keeping up with', to hide that giant poster of said captain deeper in the back of his closet.

"Oh, shit," Tanaka exclaimed, a full blown shudder ran through him, real fear seeping into his voice. "We gotta go- like now." He picked up the box, tucking it into his side and grabbed Ennoshita by the wrist. Ennoshita tried to protest, but it seemed like his brain just wasn't up to speed today, and all that came out was squawk. Tanaka didn't even acknowledge that he made a sound, marching a bit too gravely for Ennoshita to take seriously behind Noya, who was contrastingly bouncing around humming what sounded suspiciously like 'Hips Don't Lie'.

By the time they had reached the stairs, a beat up van with doors wide open waiting for them at the bottom, Noya had moved on to doing jumping jacks, taking each step three at a time.

“Noya, Tanaka!” A voice from the back of the van called. There was some rustling from inside the van and out stepped Daichi, Sawamura Daichi, in all his tan, toned, muscular glory, smiling despite his scolding. Tanaka let go of Ennoshita’s wrist immediately, as he and Noya sprinted down the stairs, backs pin straight as they waited for their captain to speak.

“Yessir!” They shouted simultaneously.

“Cut the bullshit,” He huffed, rubbing at his forehead and Ennoshita could do nothing but hopeless gape at the majestic greatness of Daichi’s tricep. “And tell me what the hell is taking you guys so long. Bokuto is getting hungry.”

As if on cue a loud whine came out of the front of the van. “You promised me a burger.” A spiky head poked out from the window. “We’ve been working for foreeevvveer.”

“Bokuto, you’ve literally done nothing!” said another voice from the driver’s seat. The door slammed open and out popped Tetsuro Kuroo, the vice captain and middle blocker of the Japanese’s Volleyball team, looking just as mischievous as he did in the interviews Ennoshita would watch on repeat well into the night. He made a mental note to also delete his search history. He flicked Bokuto on the nose. “And you made us late!”

Bokuto whined some more, clutching at his nose dramatically. “I told you to stop doing that! I have sensitive nostrils. Daichiiiii!”

Daichi sighed loudly, looking off into the distance, as if the trash can across the street could have answers to his problems. He turned to Kuroo and Bokuto and barked again, “If you two would stop arguing for five seconds, we’d be done by now. And you two!” He spun back around to face Tanaka and Noya, who made a sound like they were choking on their own breath. “Why the hell did it take you 15 minutes to bring one box to the apartment?”

“Because- becau-” Noya began to stutter helplessly, until Tanaka cut him off.

“Because we made a new friend!” Tanaka finished brightly, turning to Ennoshita. Suddenly five pairs of (very beautiful) eyes were staring at him intensely. Ennoshita hoped he was smiling,but he honestly couldn’t feel his facial muscles at all. Of course, his knight in shining armor, Tanaka, came to save him, bounding up the stairs to grab at his wrist again. “Guys meet Ennoshita, my new neighbor!” He pulled Ennoshita further down the stairs. “Ennoshita, meet the team- or part of it at least.”

Kuroo smirked at him with a two finger salute while Bokuto was basically throwing himself out the window with how enthusiastically he was waving at Ennoshita, Daichi on the other hand let out another sigh.

“I am so sorry,” he said sincerely, eyes glistening as though he willed the sun to shine on him for this dramatic moment. “What did they do to you? Did they force you to be here?”

“Actually I-” Ennoshita started.

“He’s a fan of mine thank you very much,” Tanaka retorted sharply.

“A fan of yours?” Daichi scoffed.

“Well, not-” Ennoshita tried to respond again.

“He’s not a fan of Ryuu’s he’s a fan of everyone else though!” Noya said excitedly, eyes shining with amusement.

On the other hand, Daichi’s eyes narrowed. “So you didn’t do anything to him?”

“No of cour-”

“Well, Ryuu attacked him with his butt.” Noya interrupted, solemnly nodding.

“You did what?!” Daichi’s eyebrows disappeared entirely.

“Not on purpose!”

“Why would you do that on purpose?”

“I said I didn’t do it on purpose!” Tanaka responded, pulling at his nonexistent hair.

The image was too ridiculous for Ennoshita and he let out a small chuckle. Tanaka immediately whipped around to give a smile so soft, that even his cold stone heart had to fall for it. He turned back to Daichi. “See he likes me!”

Daichi rolled his eyes but a smile was breaking through regardless. “Yeah or maybe he just thinks you’re an idiot.”

“How ‘bout both?” Ennoshita said, stepping forward and holding out a hand. “Ennoshita Chikara. It’s nice to meet you.”

Daichi gave him a dazzling smile and a firm handshake in return. “It’s nice to meet someone else who can wrangle dumb and dumber.”

Ennoshita let out a chuckle as Tanaka and Noya started arguing over who was ‘dumber’. It left him wondering how their bickering became so familiar to him already.

 

 

“So let me get this straight,” Suga said the next day during their lunch break as they gossiped in the corner of the teacher’s lounge. “You met Kuroo Tetsurou’s abs yesterday?”

Ennoshita rolled his eyes at the math teacher’s dramatics. “I said I met him and part of the team.”

He watched Suga chew thoughtfully on a bean. “Yeah, isn’t that what I said?”

“Stop making it a big deal,” Ennoshita whined as Suga insisted on wiggling his eyebrows.

Two shadows fell over them “Stop making what a big deal?”

Ennoshita looked up to find Kinoshita and Narita peering down at them, with matching amused smirks.

“Ennoshita had an orgy with the entire men’s volleyball team,” Suga said seriously before Ennoshita could respond, causing him to choke on his own spit.

“Suga!”

“No way!” Kinoshita said eagerly, shoving his way in between Ennoshita and Suga to get in his face. “Deets.”

“How long did they last?” Narita asked curiously, balancing on the arm of the couch next to Ennoshita. He buried his face in his hands, letting out a muffled scream against his palms.

“They were that bad?”

“No!” Ennoshita yelled, immediately getting dirty looks from all the other teachers. He dropped his voice back down to a whisper. “I did not have sex with anyone this weekend. All I did was accidentally meet half the men’s volleyball team.”

“Yeah he did.”

“Suga. Shut the fuck up.”

“What it’s true!” Suga pouted innocently. “You met them; I was agreeing.”

Ennoshita gave him a pointed look in return, raising an eyebrow in a challenge. Suga was unrelenting as ever, his innocent pout forming into a blinding smile, but continued to stare Ennoshita down.

“You’ll never win,” Narita whispered into his ear. “Give up before he eats you.”

Suga scoffed. “I wouldn’t do that to Chika!” Ennoshita thought he was in the clear until a devious little smirk grazed the corner of Suga’s dumb face. “He’d like it too much.”

"Why do they let you around children?" Ennoshita sighed, breaking eye contact and murdering Suga in his head a couple of times for good measure.

Suga's shrug was somehow devious. "I dunno I'm not the one having orgies."

"He has a point," Kinoshita agreed solemnly.

"Gah!" Ennoshita's hands trembled as he brought them up. "I did not-"

"Have sexual relations with that woman," Narita interrupted. "Give it a rest Bill."

"Yeah and admit it, did you at least get someone's number?" Kinoshita asked, his three friends wearing identical wide toothy grins.

Ennoshita's pocket suddenly felt heavier under their gaze, as if the digital code that made up Tanaka's newly saved contact actually weighed something.

"You did didn't you?" Suga said gleefully, when Ennoshita refused to respond. "Was it Kuroo? Or Daichi?"

"I'd call _him_ captain any day."

"Kinoshita!"

"Oh my god! Yes I got someone's number just please stop talking!" Ennoshita exasperated, trying to put an end to his torture.

 "Who's?" Suga immediately pestered.

"Tanaka Ryuusonuske," Ennoshita responded with a sigh, adding a quick, "he's on the bench," when he was met with confused looks, hoping his friends' curiosity would finally be sated, they weren't by the looks of it as Suga puffed up his cheeks as though his mouth was quite literally filled to the brim with words ready to spill out.

Before he could though Ennoshita interrupted. "Look its not a big deal ok?" He gives them all individual pointed looks. "Just drop it please."

He knew immediately from their wide eyed stares that they would not in fact drop it. Instead Ennoshita endured the entire day slightly on edge as he sat at his desk, centered in the library, completely vulnerable; an ambush could come from any side. He watched Suga stick his ugly mug in between classes, a permanent smirk stuck on his face. Kinoshita even had the audacity to bring his class in under the pretense of researching, when really Ennoshita knew it was just to wiggle his eyebrows at him every time Ennoshita looked down at his phone. He was texting his mom for god's sake, about her kidney stone. There was nothing sexy about kidneys, no matter how far Kinoshita's eyebrows went into his hairline. Ennoshita had half a mind to just delete Tanaka's number and move to the other side of the planet, but his stupid fingers never seemed to listen as it hovered over his contact.

Funnily enough, the final straw didn't come from his nosy friends, but rather in the form of a hyper active student. Ennoshita was sure he finally got away as the day winded down to a close.

"Ennoshita-sensei!" He winced as Hinata's scream echoed in the otherwise quiet room.

"Hinata," Ennoshita sighed out a scold. "What did I say about yelling in the library?"

"Sorry sensei, but I'm excited." Hinata hit at Ennoshita's poor desk with a sharp slap. Ennoshita winced again. He gets it; the kid's excited, but did that have to mean his ageing wood top had to suffer?

"And why are you excited," He asked, going back to cataloging a new set of books. Anything excited Hinata, from pork buns to a new chest hair, and Ennoshita really didn't feel like having another conversation about boundaries.

"AAH? Sensei you should know!" He yelled in his ear, following him around like an excited puppy. "Suga-sensei told me!"

Ennoshita looked up at the mention of his friend. "Suga said _what exactly_?"

"He said you are friends with the Japanese Volleyball team!" Ennoshita sighed in relief this time. Good so Suga didn't say anything inappropriate. "Well actually," Hinata continued, "He says you have a special relationship with them, but that means your friends right?"

Ennoshita slams his head into the nearest book case.

"Special relationship?" He squeaks, facing Hinata fully. Hinata nods back.

"Yeah he said you did them a favor, like a big favor, so that means they owe you one right?" Hinata asked earnestly. "For showing them a good time this weekend? Can they come to a practice please? Can you use that as your favor? I will love you forever!"

"Hinata," Ennoshita pauses, gather the few thoughts in his head that weren't about doing horrible things to Suga. "I don't know them that well."

"But Suga-sensei said you _really_ got to know them!" Hinata complained with a pout.

"Please, please stop repeating what Suga-sensei said," Ennoshita groaned, but smiled softly as he saw Hinata deflate. "I'll see what I can do, ok? I'm not making any promises though," he added sternly. Hinata didn't seem to care as he threw himself at Ennoshita screaming about how he owed him a million. Ennoshita wondered if he could use one of them to make Suga's life a living hell. 

Ennoshita managed to muster up enough energy to take the long way out of school, just so that he could stomp by Suga's and Kinoshita's rooms without stopping, just so they really know that he's fully ready to ignore them for forever. That will show them to mess with him. He also fumbled through his phone on his way out quickly deleting Tanaka's number, deciding that his cute butt really wasn't worth daily teasing. He'd just tell Hinata that they all caught the flu for the rest of the year and couldn't make it.

He threw himself onto his bed as soon as he got home, screaming into his pillow for a good twenty three minutes as he tried to drown out the constant text tones coming from his phone. Ennoshita did a good job with ignoring them and was quite close to drifting off to sleep, when the calling started. He watched Suga's picture pop up, followed by Kinoshita and Narita, and again back to Suga. It was exactly 6 tries before they realized he wasn't picking up, bathing the room in silence for a minute before the ringing start it up again. This time though his friends' ugly faces didn't pop up, instead it was from an unknown number.

Was Suga seriously trying to call him from a different phone to get him to pick up? Now that's just desperate. Ennoshita chucked his, still ringing, phone across the room, where it landed with a dramatic echo, he heard muffled scurrying across his floor.

"Hey rat!" Ennoshita called, as he flopped on to his back. "If you eat my phone you can stay here rent free!" He was met with silence. "Really, asshole? I'm actually giving you permission to eat my stuff and you-"

He was interrupted mid-rant by a knock at the door. Ennoshita sprung out of bed and ready into action.

"Suga!" He yells as he marches towards the entrance. "Are you being serious right now?" He swung the door open still screaming, "I'm going to- oh, hi there."

Tanaka Ryuunosuke was standing outside his door, wearing the cutest confused expression. Ennoshita stared back, his body too stupid to even close his big mouth.

"Sorry, were you expecting someone?" Tanaka asks sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "I can just-"

"No!"

"No?" Tanaka repeats, tilting his head sightly.

"I mean, no, I'm not expecting anyone," Ennoshita explained a bit too quickly, stumbling over his words and clearing his throat. "Did you need something?"

Tanaka suddenly looks embarrassed. "Oh yeah-uh, do you have any rice?"

"Do I have rice?" He mimics back.

"Yeah, rice." Tanaka bites at his lip in a rather distracting manner. "I cooked chicken but didn't have any rice."

"You're supposed to ask for sugar," Ennoshita blurts out.

"Sugar?" The conversation was slowly devolving into them repeating each other.

"Yeah, sugar," Ennoshita says defensively. "Two people have a meet cute, end up as neighbors, and you are supposed to ask for sugar."

Tanaka looked even more confused if possible and Ennoshita decided he was spending too much time with Suga. "But I don't need sugar."

"Never mind," Ennoshita rolls his eyes as if Tanaka was the one being unreasonable. "I have rice."

Tanaka stares at him expectantly. "Can I borrow some?"

"You want to borrow my rice?" Ennoshita raises an eyebrow. "You're gonna give it back."

"Yeah," Tanaka nods, smiling as though he's found Ennoshita's craziness endearing. "If that's what you want."

"Ok," Ennoshita agrees, opening the door more, motioning for him to enter and leading him into the kitchen. "Is it ok if it's cold? I made it last night and was going to warm it up for dinner."

"Oh, you were gonna eat it?" Tanaka asks.

"Umm yeah." Ennoshita wonders if this guy hit his head somewhere as he rummages through his fridge. "Isn't that what you were going to do with it?"

"No- I mean yes, but I don't want to take it from you if you were going to eat it for dinner," Tanaka said, sheepishly.

"Well too bad." Ennoshita reappears and plops the Tupperware container into Tanaka's hand. "You just did. Besides, I haven't made dinner yet and your's is getting cold."

Tanaka hesitates, fumbling with the lid of the container, scraping his nails against it in a way that is supposed to annoy Ennoshita, but instead he finds himself wonder if Tanaka bites his nails- which is so stupid.

"So you haven't made dinner yet?" He finally asks.

'Yes, that's what I just said," Ennoshita responds, closing the fridge to give Tanaka a side eye.

"And I have dinner made," He states.

"Yes," Ennoshita repeats, "That's what you just said."

Tanaka sighs like _he's_ the frustrating one. "I'm trying to ask you to have dinner with me."

"Oh." Ennoshita blinks at him

"Yeah."

"Umm-"

"You don't have to if you don't," Tanaka begins to babble again, but Ennoshita has mercy on him.

"Ok."

"Yeah?" Tanaka says with a hopeful smile, eyes lighting up. "I was a little scared since you didn't respond to any of my messages or calls."

Ennoshita suddenly has flashbacks of an unknown number and a phone being thrown.

"I was sleeping." Ennoshita nods to himself. "Yeah, sleeping."

"Oh, that's ok." There's an awkward silence that encompasses them.

"Well let's go then," Ennoshita says, walking out the door, leaving Tanaka to stumble out behind him. "I hope your not as bad of a cook as you are moving boxes."

"Hey!" Tanaka slaps at his arm in such a familiar way, it makes Ennoshita's toes warm. "I told you that was Bokuto's idea."

"Yeah, sure, ok."

 

It was spring and everything in Ennoshita's life was old- same old job- same old threadbare sheets- same tired feeling in his bones that makes him want to peel his skin back and take them all out. But the rice at the corner of Tanaka's mouth as his smile bloomed and his feet kicked at Ennoshita's one too many times- that was new.

 


End file.
